It is conventional to admix chemical additives with ground or particulated insoluble materials so as to disperse the additives throughout the particulated materials. Exemplary insoluble particulated materials to which it may be desirable to disperse or incorporate chemical additives include cellulosic materials such as wood and paper wastes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,192,587 and 5,308,653 to Rondy disclose methods of coloring comminuted woods by introducing colorants into comminuted woods augured through a flighted auger. If it were possible to uniformly disperse certain chemical additives effectively while particulating the wastes into a recycled particulated waste material or otherwise an usable by-product materials at an attractive processing cost, then the value, utility, and profit margins for such recycled waste products or by-product materials would be significantly enhanced.
Illustrative chemical additives which, if uniformly incorporated within comminuted or particulated materials, would enhance the materials' value include retardants such as fire retardants, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, colorants or coloring reagents (e.g. such as dyes, pigments, etc.), flow agents, bulking agents and other similar type additives. These additives may be provided in a form which permits the chemical additives to be uniformly dispersed within a suitable vehicle or carrier. Such vehicles or carriers may function as a solvent for the chemical additive, or as an inert dispersant, or a vehicle for an insoluble chemical additive, or alternatively in cooperative association with suitable emulsifying agents as an emulsified carrier for the additives. Water is a particularly suitable vehicle or carrier for most chemical additives.